Page 23 of Chaos
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not doing anything.”
Closing my eyes, I pressed my consciousness into hers, instantly sensing she was being truthful. Fuck. That was all me. Annoyed with myself, I reopened my eyes and pushed harder into her mind, not giving her a chance to prepare for the invasion.
That was the entire point, if I’m being honest. She needed to realize what was at risk and how woefully unprepared she was. She needed to understand beyond all doubt why these sessions with me were vital to her survival.
Which meant I had to be absolutely ruthless.
I was the worst of them.
I’d show her how truly terrible I could be.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.
“Like what?”
I dug deeper into her head, latching on without her knowledge.
“Like I upset you.”
“You did. You do. Now, hellcat, tell me... did you enjoy fucking my brother?”
Her eyes blew wide with shock, even as she answered. “Yes.” The sound of her admission startled her, and she stiffened before adding, “I didn’t mean to say that.”
“Yes, you did. Now tell me how you really feel about your power.”
“I love it. It’s addicting, which is a little frightening, but when I’m in the moment all I care about is taking.” Merri slapped a hand over her mouth. “What the fuck is going on?”
The question was only slightly muffled. I ignored it and asked, “Taking what?”
“Everything.”
I grinned. “And how do you feel knowing you could take and take from us without killing us?”
“Ravenous.” Her eyes widened.
“I suspected so.”
“What are you doing to me, Mal?”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I dove farther into her mind. “Tell me your most embarrassing moment. One you will never recover from.”
Once again, she was speaking without a second’s hesitation, the story pouring from her like water bursting through a dam. She couldn’t get the words out fast enough, thanks to my influence.
“They called me Mary Magdalene in school. Even listed me under that name in the yearbook. All because when I finally fought the girl who bullied me relentlessly, the principal let me off with a slap on the wrist. They said it was because I was a whore who gave him a blow job to get out of punishment. But I didn’t. He knew what was going on and that I was just defending myself. He was trying to be kind, but they didn’t see it that way. It only proved what they all said about me. That I was a slut who fucked her way through the faculty.”
A single tear dripped down her cheek, and a pang of guilt momentarily pierced me for making her relive such a memory.
“Lock that away and never think of it again, Merri,” I said through a tight throat.
I didn’t have the power to make her do that, but I’d still suggest it.
Confusion marred her brow for a moment before her eyes cleared and she really caught on to what I was doing to her.
“Mal . . .”
“Stand,” I ordered, nearly done with my show of power.
She did, even if her face betrayed that it was involuntary. My essence was so strong, so able to infiltrate both the bloodstream and the unprotected mind, that I could have her writhing on the floor in untouched euphoria, hallucinating, or attempting to fly off a cliff if I chose. We weren’t doing any of those today, although the first seemed like a viable option.
